Recommended Posts

This image does not show how large these vessels really are but you will see if you watch the video(s).

If ever you have seen broken vessels in a museum and always wondered how it had been repaired, here is a wonderful interactive video informational on how a museum quality restoration was done.

Three large vessels had been broken. They had been sitting on a window sill for 40 years and one day someone fell down the stairs, crashed into them and the vessels were shattered into pieces. The videos show the conservation techniques used to restore the vessels.

If the link doesn't work go to the Fitzwilliam Museum website and look under Chinese Vases on the home page. I will try to give you as much as I can to get you there if one link doesn't work try another. I think you will enjoy watching, yes it is worth it.

There is a disclaimer that this technique may not work for all types of ware be sure to read it too.

The main flight of stairs rises from the ground floor to a central landing beneath a large window, then divides into two smaller flights left and right. The visitor tumbled down the right-hand flight of stairs, then along the windowsill from right to left, colliding with each vase in turn. The impact reduced them to rubble and scattered them across the landing and stairs. The stone flags were gouged in places where he skidded on some of the hard porcelain sherds. Other fragments were crushed by staff coming to help him. The noise of the crash was immense and echoed through the galleries.

What happened to the visitor involved in the incident?

Museum attendants and first-aiders quickly attended to the visitor at the scene, moments after the crash. Although an ambulance was called, he later walked away unharmed.